A quick post

I'm entering another challenge at Anita Be Stampin.  It's a sketch challenge and can be found here.  I call this card Willa's Bliss:

I hope you like it!

Now I'm off to get something to eat.  I haven't eaten since breakfast and there's a beautiful salad in the fridge calling my name.  Thanks, Pat!

Yippee!!

My Nurse Margaret card (can't cure stupid) placed second in the Bugaboo challenge!  I won 4 new digis and a badge for my blog.  See the new badge over ~~~~~~~~~~~~> there?  Cute, right?  I'm so excited!  It was hard to select just 4 digis, so I picked 4 and bought a few more.  I'm going to try to find the time tomorrow to do a card for the current challenge!  Thank you Bugaboo!



Annnnnnd... it's official:  I'm sick of snow.  We're very close to a record snowfall for the season.  whee.  Can't you just feel my excitement?  Bah.

It's still snowing.

We are heading home today, and it's still snowing.  We got about 8 - 10 inches last night, but the driveway is plowed and it isn't snowing at home any longer so all should be good.  Thank God for 4-wheel drive!

My cupcake turtle WON the challenge at Happileigh!  YAY!  Three free digis and a badge for my blog.  Lookie over to the right, isn't it pretty?  =D

Time to start packing up.  I want to STAYYYYYY!  It was such a fun break.  Now I can't wait for next year!

Last full day of the retreat

Today was the last full day of our retreat and I'm sorry to see it end.  We had a blast, and the other ladies were wonderful!  Starla got a LOT of cards done, I didn't do so shabby either. 

Today I focused on making Artist Trading Cards.  One of the local scrapbook stores, We're Stamping Mad in Osseo, has a swap on the second Sunday of every month.  The way it works is simple.  Each month has a theme, you make 20 ATCs in the theme (making them as close to the same as possible, and must include at least ONE stamped element), bring them in and everyone swaps.  March will be my first time joining in, and the theme is Thank You.  Here is one of the cards I made:

A few stamped elements, a punch, some gems and Stickles.  I like it!

NOT looking forward to the drive home tomorrow.  It's snowing here and we have a few inches of accumulation.  At home we got about 15 inches.  I hope it's done snowing there... and I hope we can get out of here in the morning!

Bugaboo get well challenge

Bugaboo is having a challenge, you can see it here.  This is the card I am submitting:

The image is, of course, Bugaboo.  She is colored with Copics, and I added some silver strands in her hair using a Gelly Roll clear glitter pen.

I hope she meets with your approval (I don't think SHE cares if she does or not...).  

Friendship

This is an adorable digi by Elizabeth Dulemba, a very talented illustrator.  Check out all the free images you can download from her site!  This is one of my favorites, and I'm entering it in a challenge at the Desert Island Crafts blog, challenge #2.   Here's how it works:

The challenge is quite simple, all you have to do is make a card/project using 3 or more items from my itinerary.

Juanita's Desert Island Itinerary
1. Monochromatic
2. Movie or Book inspired
3. Buttons
4. The word “ FRIEND(S)” in your sentiment
5. Border Punch
6. Only one pattern paper
7. The color Red
8. No flowers
9. Swirls
10. Sparkle

I used only one patterned paper (#6), included the color red (#7), did not use any flowers (#8), and added sparkle at the corners of the die cut (#10).  I wasn't sure if the word "friendship" counted for #4, but I'm more than covered with the others!

The image was colored with colored pencils which were then blended with Gamsol.  I'm loving the subtle coloring and shading using Gamsol!  Not that I'm ready to retire my Copics, not by a LONG shot!

Doodle Pantry Challenge!

I know Valentines Day is past, but Love is ALWAYS in season!  Here's my little sheep from Doodle Pantry, she wants to say "I Love Ewe!!"

The challenge can be found here.

Show me some love... leave a comment!  =D

See how much fun I'm having?

I feel so productive today!  I just finished this card:

This is one of the new digi stamps at Anita Be Stampin. Her name is Victoria, how could I NOT love her?  She is being entered in the current ABS challenge: Anita Be Stampin-Challenge 8.

The sentiment is from a StampinUp! hostess set that one of the ladies here was kind enough to loan me.  I think it's fabulous and I MUST own it!

CUPCAKES!

This card was made for a couple of challenges:

The first challenge is at Happileigh Scrappin -Cupcake Wars Challenge #10.

It's also being entered at Karber's weekly challenge-25.

The turtle and cupcake are a digi stamp from Digi Stamp Boutique.  I used colored pencils and blended them with Gamsol.  I hope she makes you smile!

Ta DAAAAA!

I forgot to mention this, but I made a ROAST in my pressure cooker!  It was AWESOME and I was so proud of myself.  I used a recipe from the yahoo group Pressure Cooker Recipes called the three envelope roast.  It was so easy and fast!  My husband said I could make that again any time.  I was really happy with the au jus, it was perfect for a baked potato.  I'm so happy with the pressure cooker and can't wait to try some more recipes.

Having fun at the retreat, more later!

My love for you keeps growing!

I am so happy with this little card!  I was inspired by Ileana's Heart Stem Frame, which you can find right here.   And it's on SALE for only $1.03!!  Hurry up and get it!  LOL!

The little girl is a digi by Mo Manning at digitalpenciltoo.com.  Isn't she just the cutest thing?

She is being entered in a challenge at KB Cute Monday - Challenge 3 - Love.

I hope you like her!

I have cool news!

Back in January I posted a photo of the Anniversary card I made for my husband.  Here it is again so you don't have to look for it (because I know you totally WOULD).

The frame on the card was cut on my Silhouette, using a file created by the very talented Ileana R from I Scrap Designs.  Ileana has invited me to join her creative team!!  I can't tell you how honored I am!  Of course I accepted immediately, so expect to see some more of her beautiful files! 

Thank you, Ileana!

The Outlawz are having a party!!!

 Awesome prizes!  Lots of ways to win!!  WOO HOO!

The Greeting Farm

I'm sure most of you have heard of The Greeting Farm and have seen their wonderful stamps and digis.  They are currently having a color challenge, you can see it here.  This is the card I made:

Isn't she pretty?  This was my first attempt at blonde hair, and at blending/highlighting hair, so no laughing!  =D

ABS challenge #7

ABS's weekly challenge has a GREAT sketch.  You can find it here.  Here is my interpretation of that sketch:

I hope you like her.  She is another of the beautiful rubber stamps I got from Anita's store. I can't wait to get more of them!

Less than a week until Star and I go on our first scrapbooking/card making retreat!  We are so excited... 4 days to just play with ink and paper.  It's going to be so FUN!  We're also taking the snowshoes and plan to get some time outside at least a few days while we're there.

More tomorrow!

I was wrong!

The ABS stamps I got were NOT clear, they are beautiful red rubber cling stamps and I LOVE them!  As soon as I got them I wanted to make something, and as ABS is sponsoring a challenge I used one of my stamps to make this:



He is being entered in the I(heart)2stamp sketch challenge here.

I'm not necessarily thrilled with this one, but that's my own fault.  I went a little (okay, a LOT) crazy with patterned paper and I think the cute bear gets lost in there.  What do you think?

The next one will be better!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Snowshoeing was a BLAST!  At least it was once we split off from the group and could go our own pace.  We're going to try to go once a week for the rest of the winter!  Here's a picture Star took of me:

I was wearing a camelbak under my jacket that made my backside look HUGE, but I was glad I had it before we got back to the car.  Snowshoeing is HARD WORK!  Luckily it's fun too, and I can't wait to get back out there this weekend.

Another card very soon!

I love Saturdays...

Sleep in, spend some time with Jim, then play with paper and ink.  YAY!

Our friends Wayne and Bobbie had a baby this week.  Welcome Baby Faith!  Faith made an appearance about 6 weeks early.  She was in distress and the doctors decided it would be best to have her out where they could take care of her.  She's about 2.5 pounds and could use your prayers, if you're so inclined.  Thanks.  Here's a card I made to welcome her to the world:

The sentiment says:  "Sometimes",said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."

Digi by Meljens, colored with Copics and Gelly Roll glitter pen.

And a challenge.  Anita Be Stampin' has wonderful images and I can't wait to own ALL of them!  LOL!  Her challenge this week was to use dark purple, light purple, cream, and kraft.  As much as I love me some purple, I was amazed at how HARD this was!  I didn't have the "right" purple copic for Willa's dress so I printed the image on white, cream, and purple paper, then cut and pieced her together.  It took for-stinkin'-EVER, but I'm happy with the results.  Let me know what YOU think!

Willa is being entered in the ABS challenge here.

I won last week (YAY!!! OMG, I was SO excited) and ordered a cute set of Anita's clear stamps.  Her images (digi and clear) can be found here.  Go see how talented she is!

Tomorrow Starla and I are going snowshoeing at one of the area parks!   If the game is still on when I get home I'm going to try to catch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.  Maybe another post after that.  If not, have a wonderful weekend.

A different kind of challenge

Today is the first day of the Idita-Walk, 2011.   Here's a little info from their home page.

Welcome to the Idita-Walk 2011 homepage!  The Idita-Walk is an event to promote physical fitness in the spirit of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  The Iditarod Sled dog race is 1049 miles long from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.  To complete the Idita-Walk, simply walk 30 minutes a day for 35 days between February 1, 2011 to March 31, 2011 for a total of 1049 minutes (any combination of minutes will work - just reach 1049 during the 59 day event!). 

It only costs $10 to join, and the money goes to maintain a Boy Scout camp near Nome.  You receive a lapel pin when the walk is over, and can purchase sweatshirts and other items at their store.  Plus you get to feel good about doing something good for yourself!

Go check it out, and join me on the walk!